Erin Evans - The Adversary

Sairché stepped around her brother, a wand in her hand, and with a quick spell closed the door behind her.

“Well met,” she said. “I do hope I’m not-”

Farideh pointed the rod at the cambion. “ Adaestuo !” Sairché threw herself behind Lorcan’s still form as a bolt of energy streaked past and obliterated a wooden chair pushed up against the wall, narrowly missing the curve of her batlike wing. Farideh ducked around Lorcan, another burst of Hellish magic ready, but Sairché had rolled to her feet, and as Farideh marked her position, the cambion took hold of a charm that made her shimmer and vanish.

Farideh kept the rod out, searching the empty room for some sign of where Lorcan’s treacherous sister stood. “What have you done to him?”

“Nothing permanent,” Sairché said from somewhere behind her. Farideh spun, but when Sairché spoke again, it was from off to the left. “Not yet. I wanted to talk to you, and let’s face it, Lorcan’s a terrible distraction.”

Farideh cast another bolt but it smashed against the wall. How long before someone came to see what all the noise was about? How long before someone caught her casting magic with a frozen devil in the middle of her room?

“Put away the rod,” Sairché’s voice said. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“How did you find me?” Farideh asked, moving into the curve of Lorcan’s wing. If she was going to hit Sairché, she’d have to be careful. Keep her talking-that was the only way to find her.

“You mean the protection? I suppose Lorcan didn’t think about the fact that there are more mundane ways around such things. Temerity was most helpful. Put the rod away, and give me a chance.”

“What do you want?” Farideh asked, still holding tight to the implement.

“I’m here to offer you a deal,” Sairché said.

“I don’t want it. I told you that before.” In Neverwinter, Sairché had laid out her offer to take Farideh’s pact from Lorcan, telling Farideh she’d change her mind eventually. Or else.

Sairché clucked her tongue. “A lot of devils are looking for you, and make no mistake, they’ll find you soon enough. If I can do it, a dedicated collector can too. Lorcan ought to have told you that much.”

Farideh looked up at Lorcan’s frozen face. He would have said she didn’t need to know that. He would have said it was handled. But how could it be if Sairché was standing here, and he was trapped? She held the rod more tightly. “I’ll manage.”

The door swung open again, and Havilar, glaive leading, appeared. She looked from Lorcan to Farideh to Farideh’s rod. . then froze stiff as the same magic stopped her in her tracks.

“No!” Farideh rushed to stand in front of her twin, to block Sairché’s reach.

“Ah, the infamous twin,” Sairché’s voice came. “She is a firecracker, isn’t she?”

Panic sank its cold claws into Farideh’s chest. “He said you didn’t know about her.”

Sairché stepped out of the air and gave Farideh a pitying look, as she sat down on the bed. “He says a lot of things, doesn’t he? Obviously he lied.”

Did he lie or did he underestimate Sairché? Did it matter? If Lorcan couldn’t protect them from the Hells, she had to do something.

If Sairché cast another spell, Farideh thought, she might be able to keep her from harming Havilar. Or Lorcan. Not both. And still whatever spell held them in place might last for moments or might last for eons.

“This is my offer,” Sairché said. “Nothing nefarious-those collectors will come calling, make no mistake. I’ll give you protection from such harm-I have resources now my brother could only dream of. You give me your sister, a Kakistos heir of my own.”

“I’ll fight them off myself before I give you Havilar.” Farideh pointed the rod at Sairché’s chest. “ Adae -”

“Now wait!” Sairché interrupted. “Lords, did Lorcan never let you negotiate? Never mind. Of course he didn’t. My second offer: my protection- Hells, let’s extend it to your sister as well-for twenty years. A decent chance at life, wouldn’t you say?”

“And what do you want?”

Sairché’s smile grew sharper. “Just Lorcan. Reject your pact, break the protection, and I’ll do the rest.”

Farideh thought of Temerity, of the way Lorcan had smiled at the other warlock. I’m not your lover. I’m not your champion . She thought of all the times he’d lashed out at her or prodded her off-balance. All the times he’d hurt her.

But then there were all the times he’d saved her, all the times he’d been the only ally at her side. The times he’d been kind. It did matter, a little, that he’d chosen her. And she wasn’t going to let him die because she couldn’t sort him out.

“No,” she said.

Sairché narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think you understand what it is you’re up against. My brother is soft-hearted and lazy and entirely selfabsorbed. His schemes do not tend to reach beyond the tips of his fingers. Even for a collector, he is peculiar. The others will not be so careful with you. Or with your sister. Refuse me,” Sairché added, “and I will not be so careful with you.”

Farideh kept the rod pointed at Sairché, but found the trigger word wouldn’t speak itself. The thought of armies of devils, pouring through a portal from the Hells, eager to make Havilar their tool, eager to kill Lorcan and tangle Farideh in some worse agreement-she couldn’t let that happen either. She needed time to think. She needed Sairché to back off.

She wet her mouth. “What would it take to protect us for only a little while?”

Sairché paused and considered her brother’s frozen form. Farideh wondered if he could hear what was happening, see what she was up against. She wondered if he was struggling to curse at her. She reached back with her free hand and squeezed Havilar’s wrist. It was warm but still.

“A favor,” Sairché said finally. “And I’ll protect you and your sister from death and from devils, until you turn twenty-seven.” She smiled at Farideh. “A pretty number, don’t you think? And a very good deal.”

Farideh hesitated. “What do you mean ‘a favor’?”

“Just some little thing I can’t do for myself,” Sairché said. “But it won’t be your soul or your sister. Or Lorcan, since you’ve laid those out.”

“But it’s anything else.” Farideh pursed her lips a moment. “I won’t get you another soul.”

Sairché chuckled to herself. “Any soul you could get me was already half in the basket.”

“I won’t kill anyone,” Farideh said.

“My, you’re squeamish all of the sudden,” Sairché said. “Sure you won’t kill anyone ?”

“You won’t trick me like that,” Farideh said. If she said yes, Sairché could easily turn her against someone good or dear or important. “The favor can’t be killing someone.”

“No killing,” Sairché agreed. “To be honest, I wouldn’t have wasted it on something like that. It’s not as if I don’t have erinyes for that sort of thing. Let’s agree that the favor will end up harming a common enemy.” She smiled at Farideh again, much like Temerity had. “You can’t argue with that.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, I’d like for us to be friends. Or at least for you to trust me a little- how else will I get anything worthwhile out of you? Even Lorcan knows better than to lead with a Pact Certain.” She smiled at Farideh as if the tiefling were being impish. “Honestly.”

Farideh swallowed. A common enemy-the favor would be an act against another devil, another wicked soul. Dangerous, but not, if she made the deal right, an evil act. Not something she couldn’t do.